The Reds defender told the ECHO how he had suffered from the potentially deadly illness many times after being bitten by mosquitos in his home country of Ivory Coast.

Toure, 34, spoke about his personal fight with malaria as Mr Gates and Chancellor George Osborne visited the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to announce the UK government will step up its efforts to fight the disease.

The former Arsenal and Manchester City star said: “Malaria is tough. It makes you really, really tired. You feel like you have no power at all.”

Toure was struck down by malaria in 2014, casting doubts over whether he would be able to play in the World Cup.

He said: “Even for a guy like me malaria is tough, it can take all my power.

“As a footballer, if you have it, you can lose all your fitness in two days - imagine that for a child, it’s even worse.”

Malaria claims around half a million lives a year globally, but researchers hope it can be eradicated within decades.

The new war chest to fight malaria will see the British government contribute £500m a year for the next five years, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will hand over $200m for research this year.

Mr Gates, worth $79bn and the richest man on Earth, said at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine: “This is an eradicable disease by taking the best of science and Liverpool is a great example of that.

“Eventually we will take those 600,000 deaths a year and take it to zero.

“Malaria has been one of the biggest killers through history. Better drugs are going to be part of the picture.

“The best minds in science are being pulled into this. We will (eradicate) malaria in my lifetime.”

Mr Osborne added: “We can actually eliminate this disease as we are close to eliminating polio. Britain can really make a difference in the world.

“Bill Gates could have gone anywhere in the world but he chose to come here.

“He is a smart guy who has chosen to invest in the work you are doing here in Liverpool.”

One of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine projects being funded by Mr Gates is research to insert chemicals into bed nets to make them even more effective in preventing children in Africa from being bitten by mosquitos in their sleep.